Wes Unseld Jr. isn’t a coach who receives much national credit, or even attention. But over the past season he put the Wizards in a position to succeed, running one of the more creative offensive schemes in the entire NBA. This is while having a completely flawed roster lacking of high efficiency players and guys who are high-volume from either beyond the arc, or at the rim.

Though I believe ‘location based Field Goal Percentage’ to be a flawed way to analyse what a good offense is, the Wizards roster simply wasn’t built with the ability to generate shots at important areas. They were bottom five in the Cleaning The Glass ‘Location eFG’, a measure of shot location. Generally the teams that rank lowly here are teams with star players who are funneled off the three-point line and walled off from the rim, why Phoenix and Brooklyn are the bottom two; the Wizards certainly do not fit this category.

With this in mind, it may be reasonable to suggest that Unseld’s work with this Wizards offense has been nothing short of spectacular. It’s creative, well oiled and mixes in some absolutely incredible ATO plays at the right times. The numbers may not show this, but the process is excellent and made a completely flawed roster not be a complete eyesore to watch.

Stack Out

The Wizards’ main starting point to get Bradley Beal his touches was out of ‘Stack Out’. Here is the most basic outline of Stack Out.

It’s a screen in the middle of floor to get Beal ‘out’ of the arc. Horns Out would be a more rigid outline but they are admittedly similar. They often have an empty side pick-and-roll as the go-to option out of stack out. It’s an easy way to get Bradley Beal an advantageous position and a way the Wizards can force the ever-popular empty-side actions.

They’ll also use this to get Beal isolation opportunities, especially if a defender is playing tight to him like Matisse Thybulle does below.

This concept isn’t particularly groundbreaking or dripping with creativity, but some of their counters and wrinkles from Stack Out are excellent. This one is their most common- ‘Stack Out Elbow Chicago’.

Porzingis sets the screen for Beal to exit the play. Notice how the Hornets are tight to him. Jordan Goodwin instead pitches the ball to Porzingis and sets a screen for Beal to come off for a Dribble Handoff (Chicago Action). The Hornets switch it and the Wizards get a wide open corner three. The initial stack out entry didn’t really generate anything so they flipped into something else. It’s a great counter and wrinkle to a very simple core play.

Below, they run it for Kyle Kuzma in interesting circumstances.

The Knicks are ready for the action, with Randle essentially top locking Kuzma. Kuzma manages to wriggle free for a more horizontal cut than this action normally would have. But they once again flow into the elbow Chicago counter and get a great look for Kuzma from the mid-range. Good offenses can function when stuff doesn’t go to plan.

On this occasion, the Golden State Warriors scout every part of this play. The Stack Out is covered. The Chicago Action gets top locked. So the Wizards flow into a normal spread pick-and-roll. This is still excellent practice: every potential nail help defender was somewhat occupied trying to stop the initial action. It shows the importance of running creative plays and thinking every step through when installing your offense.

They also like to use stack out to set up double drags, usually with the initial passer being a screener.

Kuzma comes off the screen, and with Anthony Gordon trying to execute ‘No Middle’ Kuzma goes into a give-and-go with Daniel Gafford for an easy look at the rim. Double Drags often force opposition defenders to gather at the top of the key, and they execute an excellent counter.

Delay

Washington runs one of the more creative Delay packages in the NBA. They have a lot of size on the wings so they can execute a variety of counters. Porzingis’ natural exterior spacing and Daniel Gafford’s interior spacing also made the actions fruitful and make a great deal of sense. The Wizards’ Delay package is full of counters, interesting reads and these were ran smoothly by the players, which is something I look at when analysing offenses.

Delay is a five-out concept. It is defined by a big handling the ball at the top, with two players on either side of him. Below is the basic outline of delay.

The most common read from this is Delay Chicago. This involves a player coming off a screen before receiving a handoff from the player at the top of the key. They run it below to get Kendrick Nunn an easy driving lane.

This isn’t a particularly exotic read, every team in the NBA runs it. But it is generally the starting point for any Delay package. Washington probably runs this between 5-6 times a game if not more. What is more interesting is some of their direct counters from Delay Chicago.

Teams like to try and get ahead of Chicago action. Washington’s off-ball players are good at knowing when to cut backdoor.

Here, Anthony Gill cuts backdoor as Jonathan Kuminga tries to get ahead of the game. It seems simple but the speed with which it’s done is impressive.

Washington also ‘rejects’ the Delay Chicago action to push empty side actions for Bradley Beal, such as below.

Beal fakes a screen for Anthony Gill and punishes the pair of them punish the Nets trying to pre-switch it. Gill clears out and Beal darts to take the handoff. His speed of thought and action creates a switch and they end up with a good shot based off the threat of the Empty Side Action.

Below they create the empty side from Delay in a slightly different way.

Gafford initiates the action. The Clippers switch the action so Gafford keeps the handoff to himself and instead runs it through Monte Morris. They again get a great look on empty side actions. Pushing for the best actions when you have limited personnel is always a great strategy and this is another simple and well-oiled way Washington gets to it.

They also mix Delay-Chicago action into their Sideline Out of Bounds (SLOB) plays. Here they get into it through their Zipper SLOB series.

Gafford is a non threat moving away from the basket in out-of-bounds possessions to any defense, but they turn him into one by running a highly effective action. I’ll have more on Washington’s out-of-bounds plays later on.

Washington also regularly runs an action similar to Chicago called ‘Delay Weakside Flip’. This is run a lot by the Philadelphia 76ers. Here’s what it looks like.

Instead of the action happening on the sideline, a player cuts from the corner and flips themselves to set a screen for the nearest player to come towards the ball. The main reason this is effective is because it can be confusing for the low-man as most will be expecting a traditional Chicago Action out of a Delay formation.

Look at Doncic when this screen is set. Most teams would switch in this scenario because neither Avdija or Kispert are particularly scary on-ball players. Doncic is guarding no one because of the speed of action from Washington, and the advantage is hammered home by a great roll from Kyle Kuzma and a nice seal from Monte Morris to create the open three. It’s the type of attention to detail and off-ball execution that stands out when watching the Wizards.

On occasion, they’ll have their Delay-ball handler just keep the ball. This is more common with Porzingis or Kuzma, but below you can see Daniel Gafford do it.

I like the Wizards’ incorporation of flare screens into their Delay/5-out offense early in the shot clock. Teams often try and get ahead of the action and push high and wide in half-court defense. Flare screens can punish that.

Notice how high and engaged Zach LaVine and Patrick Williams are. They are expecting potential Chicago action and stacking bodies high is a good deterrent for running it. A simple flare screen punishes this and gets Avdija into space and creates an advantage for him which ends in an easy look at the rim.

Corey Kispert’s off-ball activity jumps off the screen and he is a legitimate difference maker in their Delay Package. Here he fakes a flare screen and then clears to the weak side which allows Kyle Kuzma an opportunity at an Empty-Pick-And-Roll.

Empty Side Actions are coveted by every NBA Team, but the Wizards do a good job generating them out of their base motion offense and it arguably makes the play even more effective.

Though the two final plays I have in this section aren’t technically in the Delay package, I’d argue they can be considered part of it just because of the outline and how potent Washington is from this outline. Here they run ‘Motion Weak Twirl’.

They open in the 5-out outline. Porzingis passes it to the strong side and cuts to the weak side which is why this is motion weak. They even mix in the weakside flip to manufacture the Twirl Action, which involves a player cutting off the first of two double stagger screen, and then the first screener coming off the second screener.

The play below is much easier, I’d just label it Pistol Strong. But they get into it in their five-out offense.

They get into an empty side action while also having a double stagger screen on the other side. Combining two of the most effective actions into the same play is always a good idea, and the simplicity of the play makes it surprising other teams don’t run it. Though this stuff isn’t Delay, I believe the potency of their Delay sets allows Unseld to be creative and add to the playbook as the year goes on.

Blind Pig

The Wizards do a great job of using ‘Blind Pig’ action to punish aggressive defense. Teams often feel the need to play up high against the Wizards because of their good early offense and also because of Porizngis’ outside spacing. Here, they get into it out of their Delay Package.

You can see the Suns switch the action on the perimeter. Deni reacts to this by flipping to the elbow and creating a wide open side for Bradley Beal to cut backdoor. This action punishes teams playing up on the perimeter. I’ve mentioned before this is a common deterrent to Chicago Action. I’d consider this a must-add action for any Head Coach running five-out offense.

They also mesh Blind Pig into other aspects of their offense such as below.

Washington are in a very loose outline with Porzingis and Beal at the elbows. Beal ghost screens onto an empty side. Dejounte Murray plays high and tries to deter the pass to Beal. Porzingis lifts and they go into Blind Pig action. I noted earlier Blind Pig action also works because of how high people play Porzingis. This play is an example of this. Porzingis will often just catch and shoot inside the arc and teams don’t want that as he’s a 79th percentile mid-range scorer.

The Wizards show a desire to run some of their core counters out of plays they don’t normally run.

Here they run ‘weave’ action which is a variety of handoffs above the key. Beal is aggressively pursued by Matisse Thybulle. The Wizards have Porzingis lift and run blind pig. On this occasion he is given cushion by PJ Tucker and takes it to the rim.

They also have used Blind Pig as a quick hitter when plays go stagnant. Below their initial action doesn’t achieve much so they try and run Beal off a Wide Ball Screen. When the defense denies they go straight into the Blind Pig.

Something I look for in offenses is how they cope when plays break down, and whether they are able to execute core counters out of normal motion offense. A popular coach speak is ‘you can stop plays but you can’t stop principles’. This is an example of this. Their principles are being well oiled off-ball and it’s why their plays work quite often. Talent limits the Wizards offensive ceiling overall but the Coaching Staff are providing solutions.

Gut

The Wizards love Gut action and get into it from many different scenarios. Gut action involves bringing an off-ball player through the paint, sometimes off a screen. It’s simple but extremely effective. It’s common for teams to have the player receive a hand-off (Gut DHO), but the handoff doesn’t need to occur for it to be labelled Gut action. Here’s what it looks like without a DHO at the end of it.

Beal comes up through the paint and goes into a pick and roll with Taj Gibson. It’s effective because it inverts the floor. Beal isn’t threatening inside the paint without the ball, so you can catch the defense off guard with them in positions they’re not traditionally expected to be in. Corey Kispert also lifts at the right time to disrupt the nearest nail help and they get an easy look at the rim. This is the most basic premise of Gut Action but it’s extremely effective.

They’ll also use this as a counter if Beal is being defended aggressively, such as below.

Utah defends Beal tightly and locks him from coming towards the ball. He responds by entering the paint and coming off a re-screen from Daniel Gafford in Gut Action. It’s the kind of quasi-offensive set in the midst of disrupted plays that shines out when watching the Wizards.

Here’s the more Traditional ‘Gut DHO’ that other teams around the league run.

The Wizards also run a set I’d argue to be their most proficient, ‘Fist Ghost Gut (Elbow) Chicago’. I have genuinely never seen them not create an insanely high percentage look on this play. I’d say it’s one of the most money sets in the entire NBA. Here’s what it looks like.

The Wizards go into a pick-and-roll, Daniel Gafford ghosts the ball screen while Bradley Beal cuts through the paint off a screen to take the handoff (Chicago Action). They end up with a really good look at the rim for their best player on this occasion. They’ll generally go to this if they’re desperate for a bucket.

Here against the Lakers, they mesh it with Stack Out for Kyle Kuzma and end up getting Daniel Gafford a lob. They also mix in an exit screen to occupy the low-man defenders even further. Get the defense off balance then give them something else to think about as they recover. It’s amazing offense.

Even when defenses play a part of it really well, it still scores. Here Josh Hart sticks to Beal, but Beal sells him with some off-ball movement and they get another easy look.

Sometimes NBA defenses will know what you want to do, so you need to have counters ready.

The Wizards hold up their fists to signal ‘strong’. This would be a double stagger screen. It is however a ploy to run their coveted gut action for Bradley Beal. The disguise just about generates him an extra step against Andrew Wiggins. You can see Monte Morris end up with a great look from beyond the arc. This particular read isn’t one I saw often but it’s an example of the off-ball prowess and attention to detail of the players and coaching staff.

They’d also sometimes mesh the gut concept as part of an off-ball action. On the play below they run an empty side pick-and-roll while simultaneously having Beal run gut action.

Sometimes naming can be a debate, but I’ll include some of the elbow touches they generate for Porzingis in this section because they come out of a very similar concept to gut. Here they run Porzingis off a screen to get him an elbow catch which he turns into two-points. He shot around 45 percent on these pull up twos this year.

The Wizards do a good job meshing some of their core concepts into their stars touches, though. I liked this ATO play they ran involving Porzingis at the elbow.

I’d label this ‘Gut/Pin Elbow Rip DHO’. It involves Porzingis getting one of his inside touches. They’d generally push him to mid-range because he has a very limited post game. They combine his touch with Delon Wright setting a back-screen then taking a hand-off (Rip DHO). It again ends in a good bucket. It’s another example of the Wizards mixing their core concepts and best options into other parts of their playbook.

Flip

The Wizards also like to use flip action at the top of the key. It’s probably their easiest way to generate easy driving angles for Kyle Kuzma and some of their other secondary guys. Here’s the most basic premise of it.

It’s a simple flip from one player to another while above the break like this. Generally the pitch almost creates some downhill momentum for the ball-handler. Here they do just enough to get Luka to bite and get an easy look at the rim. As you may expect, the Wizards can be more exotic out of this simple action. They have two plays specifically they will run, the first is below ‘Flip 77 Empty’.

They run this a little closer to the arc than they do with other actions, but it’s a good way to get Kyle Kuzma to an empty side and put his man through 2 screens. Empty side double drags are extremely difficult to defend and this is a way they can get into one out of their motion offense.

My personal favourite extension of Flip comes in ‘Flip Spain Empty’.

Delon Wright flips the ball to Deni Avdija and they run a pick-and-roll with the first screeners man getting backscreened (Spain). The initial flip gets Avdija some separation which messes up Doncic’s angles. Reggie Bullock isn’t even expecting to be back screened and they get the defense in rotation and eventually get a good look. The fact it’s run at an angle makes it even more effective.

And as a counter or wrinkle, they’ll sometimes run it with the back-screener occupying the weak-side dunker spot before darting across to set the backscreen, such as below.

Empty Side Actions

I have clipped empty-side actions on numerous occasions in this article. But this playbook is so diverse and there are more strategies they have to push for these. Empty-side actions are so fruitful because there isn’t a help defender or tag-man, so they can be very tough to defend.

They love to run double-drags to empty sides. This was common for them because they were an easy way to use Porzingis’ spacing. The most common way this is run is to have one screener roll and one pop, here’s what that looks like.

You can see when Kuzma pops, there isn’t a low-man there to help on the pick-and-roll. Delon Wright snakes the action and gets a clean look at the rim.

The Wizards will also mix guards into the action as screeners. They will sometimes do this to hunt certain switches, but generally they are more open to using guards as screeners than most teams.

Here against Portland they use Beal as one of the screeners. Using guards as screeners can be labelled as ‘Small’. Portland’s fear of his off-ball prowess means that when Drew Eubanks traps and Lillard goes to Beal, Gafford has a wide open roll. Using guards as screeners in these actions is a very effective wrinkle.

An effective way Washington stacks extra stuff on top of this action is to have an exit-action on the other side.

This iteration makes the responsibilites even more difficult as Will Barton comes off an exit screen to the corner while the double drag is being run. On this occasion Washington hits Barton for a wide-open corner three. Reggie Bullock gets frozen by the action as he needs to also stop the guard from turning the corner which is generally the defensive goal when defending a double drag.

For comparison’s sake, here’s what they play looks like if the Exit action occurs too early in the play.

Though the Wizards do score on the play, you can see that the exit action happens too early and doesn’t really disrupt the duties of the low-man like it does in the Mavericks clip.

They can also get into this action out of Pistol in early offense, with the play being called ‘Pistol Nash’. It’s Pistol with the initial ball handler becoming the first screener in a double drag.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the 2022-23 Washington Wizards taught me a lot about basketball. Though it may seem strange to praise the playbook of the 18th ranked half-court offense and the 21st ranked offense in the NBA, I really feel that Wes Unseld Jr. and his staff did a great job crafting this playbook. The roster was extremely flawed lacking rim pressure and consistent three-point threats. It was piled up with players with mismatching skillsets.

The job of a Head Coach isn’t just to win games, it’s never that simple. It’s to provide answers and solutions to problems. The Wizards staff certainly did this on the offensive end, designing a well-crafted offense with multiple reads and well executed counters. Some may suggest the offense was too cute at times. It’s a critique I understand but vehemently disagree with. Running simplistic stuff works when you have incredible offensive talent that fits easily. But it wouldn’t work with a Wizards roster that lacks on-ball consistency. Unseld frankly could have ran a bland offense, but he chose to try and answer some of the questions this questionable Wizards roster proposed to him.

The plays he designed worked well around the roster he had. He didn’t merely try and install stuff that looked good on a whiteboard. The stuff answered real questions.

This team are a great example of why I value process over results. Players can get results on their own, there is that much talent in the modern game. But a great coaching staff can install good processes that don’t always get results, for one reason or another.

The post Inside Wes Unseld Jr.’s Creative Playbook appeared first on Swish Theory.

The upcoming series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks is projected to be one of the closer ones. In this series, I do schematic deep dives on either team, and explore the hypothetical questions that I believe to be the key points of interest for the opponents.

Cleveland Cavaliers Offensive Scheme

Empty Side

The Cavaliers run a three-out two-in offense with heavy motion from their guards. They push empty side pick-and-rolls as much as any other team in the NBA. They’ll push these early in transition.

Part of optimising their two inside big men is by rotating them as the empty side screener, though you’re more than likely going to see Mobley as the screener and Jarrett Allen in the dunker spot when they run this. Their overall philosophy in early offense is optional ball screens, giving Mitchell and Garland structure but not robbing them of freedom. The presence of Jarrett Allen at the dunker spot gives them easy buckets if the defense is collapsed. He’s in the 90^th percentile for half-court scoring efficiency.

Wedge Action

One of the Cavs’ most common actions out of their base offense is running wedge actions. This is simply an angled screen to the baseline. They run these for Evan Mobley to give him a chance to post-up or attack off the catch. Here they run Wedge Action to generate a look for Evan Mobley. He turns the ball over on this play (I’ll get to those issues later), but they get him in space on an empty side with ease.

The Cavaliers don’t do this as a one-shot type play though, they have many other options and counters from it. Here they run ‘wedge roll’ which is as it sounds. They then flow straight into a pick-and-roll.

Sometimes the mere threat of the option is enough to give them more cushion on pick-and-rolls. Here Darius Garland flows straight into a pick-and-roll and essentially ignores Okoro attempting to set the wedge screen for Allen, with the help defense occupied by the potential of this action.

Teams are hyper aware of the Cavaliers’ wedge actions and they fear them because empty side actions are the main way they try and ease spacing concerns. The play below illustrates a nice counter the Cavs have for it.

You see the Pacers sitting under Okoro for two reasons. One is because they don’t really respect him as a shooter, but the premiere reason is that they expect the wedge roll action to come. Garland sees this and pitches it to Mobley and Okoro screens Garland’s man as they flow into Delay Chicago action. It’s great offense and shows JB Bickerstaff’s attention to detail.

Flex and Rip Concepts

I’ve labelled this “flex concepts” because the Cavs don’t run the entirety of the flex offense, but they like to move their guards through the paint in screen-the-screener type actions which is the absolute epitome of what the flex offense is all about.

On this play, the Cavaliers don’t create an advantage out of the wedge action I mentioned above…

…so they pitch to the screener and go into a pick-and-roll with Darius Garland eventually setting a flex screen to get Evan Mobley to the low block. They initially didn’t get Mobley good post position but showed a multi-faceted approach to get it on a counter.

Such things don’t exist in Basketball analysis to my knowledge, but if there was a heat map that tracked players movements, I’m almost certain that the Cavaliers guards would touch the paint off-ball more than any other team due to their flex and rip concepts. These guards are deployed off-ball moving through the paint very regularly.

I enjoyed this play shown below.

They pitch to Isaac Okoro, but watch Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. They flow into an initial ‘floppy’ action (a double screen set for someone to emerge from the paint). After it doesn’t get an opening, Garland cuts to the other side on the flex scissors action and Okoro hits Evan Mobley for the dunk.

If one play summarised Cleveland’s Philosophy it’s this: these guards work for their touches out of flex concepts. This ties in with Bickerstaff’s overall philosophy. He loves the chin offense which is why he’s a perfect fit to coach a team with two bigs.

They often run these plays to try and alleviate spacing concerns. Mobley-Allen isn’t a great perimeter spacing duo as of now. So basic spread concepts aren’t really going to reap rewards. Here the Cavaliers run some flex action before flowing into an empty side pick and roll.

If you’re trying to get a big line-up to work, your guards have to do their due diligence off the ball as you ideally want to maximise the big men as elbow hubs. The Cavaliers do a great job of this when they run ‘Rip’ Action such as below. Rip action is merely a player back screening then receiving the ball.

With Ricky Rubio healthy, these sets have even more of a ceiling for the Cavaliers because his processing speed is borderline generational. Here they set up a Cross Screen for Lamar Stevens and Donovan Mitchell comes off a pindown after setting the cross screen, but Rubio sees the defense tilt away from Caris Levert in the corner and they get an easy look.

Pistol

Any team with two elite guards is going to run pistol action. While I wouldn’t call this Cleveland’s absolute staple, it’s another way they can create empty side actions and give high value touches to their lead guards. Below is the absolute most basic luck and their typical structure out of it.

Both of their lead guards in the same action. They go into a pick-and-roll. The opposite side spacing has their small forward and then Jarrett Allen at the dunker spot. They bail out to him on this play and he hits the floater. He’s in the 62^nd percentile for efficiency on these shots so it will be intriguing if teams live with this one and possibly sell out elsewhere.

They also use pistol to flow into delay action and to generate empty side actions like in the play below.

They look as if they’re going to flow into Delay Chicago after the initial pistol exchange. Instead, Levert cuts all the way to the weakside and they go into an empty-side pick and roll. Teams often blitz these so Mobley’s rolling can be highly fruitful on these actions.

Here things get a little more exotic, as they run Pistol Rip Empty Hawk.

Garland receives the ball from Mitchell. Mobley backscreens for Mitchell then comes up to set the screen (this creates the same advantage as ram action). They flow into an empty-side pick and roll and Mitchell cuts through the paint and comes off a double stagger which is Hawk action. It’s another illustration of Cavs guards moving off-ball, but also creating empty side actions out of multiple scenarios.

They run the same play against the Blazers here. This time Garland dribbles towards the empty side when he sees Nurkic in drop. The Hawk action occupies the defense and Garland scores the layup.

They also mix some ‘veer’ action into their pistol offense. This involves a screen for a ball handler, with the screener then darting elsewhere to set an off-ball screen in the same action or motion. Here they run it against the Orlando Magic.

On this occasion they do it to try and attack Bol Bol on the empty side pick-and-roll with a step up screen. Sometimes though they just do it to free up a shooter and create an advantage for Garland or Mitchell such as here.

Good offenses mesh all of their concepts together. I noted earlier how the Cavs like to use their guards on flex and rip concepts, here they tie this together with pistol.

They have the initial pistol action with Mitchell then going straight in a double drag action. This is deception for ‘rip’ action for Darius Garland who comes off a screen, then sets a backscreen of his own before darting for an open three. It’s a great example of how the Cavaliers Empty Side and Inside to out guard cutting concepts all meshing.

Ram

The Cavs also like to run ‘ram’ action, where a screener comes off a screen before screening for the ball-handler. They like to do this mixed with different secondary actions as a way of trying to freeze or occupy defenders. This is as they don’t have natural outside spacing with Mobley and Allen. They’ll often run this more against teams who play drop coverage. They run it here against the Rockets.

Mitchell is the initial screener for Jarrett Allen, and then exits to the perimeter off an Evan Mobley screen. The execution will need to be more flawless in the playoffs but the logic is to occupy the defense in a way Evan Mobley just being stationary on the perimeter wouldn’t occupy it.

They’ll often run it if they have smaller line-ups too such as here against the Orlando Magic.

This time, the exit action occupies the help defense the whole way, and Darius Garland essentially walks into an easy bucket when his man gets caught on Evan Mobley’s screen. It’s one of their most common concepts.

Here, they run a ‘small’ variant of Ram action with more inverted philosophy.

Donovan Mitchell this time receives a screen from Jarrett Allen and then Ghost Screens for Darius Garland. Allen chases it immediately and Garland once again walks into a wide-open bucket. They’ll use this ‘Ram Short 77 Ghost’ to try and force switches.

On the play below, they use it in a way that raises hypothetical questions about the action.

They have Jarrett Allen be the on-ball screener, and Evan Mobley executes ‘Short’ Action which is a cut to the strongside. Notice how it freezes the defender and Allen can get a free lane because of this as the Ram gave him some extra room at the beginning of the play.

The hypothetical question they will have to answer in the Knicks series is whether they’re better with Allen or Mobley as the on-ball screener. Allen is more likely to have Mitchell Robinson on him and he may feel comfortable playing free safety in that scenario. But Robinson is extremely disruptive at the level of the screen so having Allen as the screener might create more difficulties for the offense. They’ll likely mix things up, but this will be interesting to monitor.

My good friend Bowser also clipped another play similar to ram, known as ‘New Zealand’ Action.

This involves a ram screening action on the empty side. This may be something they go to in the playoffs if things stagnate with their more common actions.

Double Drags and Horns

Like any team trying to maximise a big frontcourt, the Cavaliers optimise Double Drags, and I think they’ll run these more in this series than usual. This is largely because a double screening action can put real strain on Tom Thibodeau’s defensive scheme as they prioritise defending the paint so may leave shooters open if the Cavs opt to use a guard in the action. They also quite commonly switch 4-5 so the Cavaliers may get some matchups they like. Here, they run ’77 Small’ with Donovan Mitchell ghost screening. Darius Garland then puts Dillon Brooks in the torture chamber.

The Cavaliers have done a great job mixing in these ghost screens. Here on this play against the Heat, Mitchell ghosting creates chaos.

Though the Knicks may be organised at the point of attack than Miami, they can still get beneficial switches and potentially get bigger defenders off Garland. It’s essentially they run these ‘small’ variants of double drag.

I love how high they set some of these double drag screens like they do here against Memphis.

The Cavs routinely have the second screener roll pretty quickly. Look how tough it is to defend. The Knicks will defend it in a similar way with trying to contain the drive. Expect to see the Cavs run a load of these.

As I’ve mentioned throughout this article, counters are important. On this play the Grizzlies try and get ahead of the action so Mobley rolls quickly and Darius Garland executes ‘get’ action which is receiving your own pass on a dribble handoff.

A key theoretical of the double drag comes with regards to Evan Mobley. The Knicks will almost certainly leave him open. They do with just about any popper in a double drag set. But Mobley needs to be aggressive. This is what will swing the series for Cleveland. Here against the Knicks he pops and takes Obi Toppin off the catch.

Though Toppin won’t see the floor often, it’s still an important play. He has to be willing to be decisive. Indecision kills offense more than inability at times. The Knicks will defend these double drags high and likely have Mobley’s man tag the roller. Hartenstein and Robinson will be containing the drive. He has to be decisive.

Cleveland also mixes in Horns Sets as a way of trying to keep the opposition center outside of the paint. Here they run a classic- Horns Ghost Flare.

Horns concepts are good because they can generate quick hitters for their elite guards while creating matchup problems. Using the gravity of their star guards early in actions just creates some incredible moments such as here where they mesh Horns and turn it into a Spain-Pick-And-Roll.

Spain Pick-And-Rolls are nightmarish anyway, and the Cavaliers mixing it with Horns is just excellent offense. It maximises the gravity of their guards and keeps bigs at the level. Spain PNRs can be particularly fruitful against the Knicks because it tests Tom Thibodeau’s philosophy of always having his low man tag the roller instead of defending the corner shot.

Cleveland also likes to use Ghost screens out of a Horns outline to generate favourable switches.

This will be particularly relevant in the Knicks series because Darius Garland can definitely get bothered by size, though it’s not a gigantic concern for me. Ghost screens in general are very good and they hold a big purpose for the Cavaliers.

The New York Knicks Defense

Now that I’ve looked at the Cavaliers diverse scheme, we should look at the New York Knicks defense. Per a source with Second Spectrum, the Knicks are 7th in the NBA in drop coverage frequency, and 2nd in at the level coverage. They rarely hedge or trap or play zone. They are aggressive at helping from the nail which is a staple of Tom Thibodeau’s defensive scheme. He prioritises defending the paint with a 5-man wall and expects his wings and guards to rotate to open shooters. The strong side defense looks something like this.

Note both corner defenders aggressively helping towards the paint. Hartenstein being up towards the level. Immanuel Quickley helping off his man to try and disrupt the roller. Some teams run teams off the three-point line with aggressive and close rotations. The Knicks escort you off of it at the top of the key then make your driving path as miserable as possible.

Here’s what the defense looks like in video form. Note how they’re in drop coverage on this occasion.

Note Julius Randle tag the roller, and then making RJ Barrett responsible for ‘splitting the difference’ between the two perimeter guys. Thibodeau’s wing defenders need to be instinctive, reactive and aggressive. Here the Knicks recover out to Darius Garland and force a shot they’re comfortable with from a structural perspective.

My general Hypothesis for this series is that empty side actions will decide the series. The Knicks love Empty Side Pick-And-Rolls for Jalen Brunson because the ‘counter punch’ out of it is baseline fadeaway jumpers, which might be Brunson’s strongest shot as his offensive ability off the planted pivot foot is elite.

Above I’ve mentioned how the Cavs love empty side actions and how the majority of their core actions can be to set up these empty side actions. It makes sense to explore how the Knicks defend these actions and ponder how fruitful they might be.

If the empty side action takes place on the right side and the screen is taking the guard towards the open side, they’ll generally be in ‘ICE Coverage’. This means they’re funnelling the play towards the sideline and essentially using the out of bounds line as an extra defender. It looks like this.

If the screen is set to the left side of the guard, the Knicks will mix up coverages. Here against the Wizards, they have Hartenstein drop so Kyle Kuzma just takes his man into the paint and hits the fadeaway.

Against the Cavaliers, empty side coverages can be complex and tricky because Garland and Mitchell are both incredibly shifty, and Allen and Mobley are such good screeners. Their ability to be unpredictable with the personnel can make a one size fits all scouting report difficult. I expect the Knicks to mix in some at the level coverages simply because Darius Garland is incredibly shifty off the dribble against drop coverage. Like what do you do with this?

Randle tries to drop and deal with Mobley, Barrett has to help away from Donovan Mitchell. Brunson isn’t active, and Jericho Sims is concerned about Jarrett Allen. Weirdly, Allen’s allergy to the perimeter can actually benefit the Cavs against Thibodeau’s strong side defense. He’s more concerned with Allen at the dunker spot than he would be with a corner shooter, philosophically.

This time, Hartenstein starts at the level of the screen. But once Garland gets a step on his man it’s close to over. Hartenstein is juggling being in the driving lane with mirroring the roll-man.

Note in this play how Quentin Grimes doesn’t really help off of Donovan Mitchell. Their approach to this will be intriguing because if you do help, even momentarily, you risk Mitchell being able to create off the catch and go like he does here. It’s generally clear though that a smaller guard on Garland without any nail help probably isn’t going to end well.

The Little Things- What the Cavaliers Can Do

Playoff series come down to micro adjustments more often than you might think. Here are a few things I think Cleveland can do to potentially make life easier for them.

The first, is setting higher screens. Given the Knicks like to be in ICE Coverage on these empty side actions, you can really cause havoc by setting the screens higher.

Note here that the entire empty side is genuinely empty. It’s because Randle has much more ground to cover in order to enforce the ‘No Middle’ ideology. Mobley also has more rolling room. I think high screens can genuinely really cause the Knicks problems in this series. I’d also attempt to get Randle and Brunson in actions as much as possible. Neither are awful defenders but they’re a step slower than their team-mates.

Here, the Cavaliers do the same with their ‘ram’ action.

Look at the gap between Grimes and his teammates before the action even happens. You could park a car in there. Mitchell makes Randle dance by faking the right drive, then makes Grimes dance before hitting the pull-up three. A good way to delegitimise nail help is to just set the action really far away from it.

Putting Donovan Mitchell or Garland in the actions as an off-ball threat should prove fruitful. I think their wedge set in particular could be a nice way to test if the Knicks want to trap. Here against Portland, the Blazers run wedge roll with Anfernee Simons setting the wedge screen for Nurkic.

Thibodeau wants to maintain structure above all else. No middle at all costs. Putting your best players in the action really tests this because your nearest help defender has to worry about a star moving off-ball. They could walk into good jump shots or just generally get the defense on the back foot with how they position guys.

Generally, I think pre-action is needed to really get at the Knicks. Make them work and force them to make quick decisions. Thibs wants teams to play slow against his defense. Something as simple as what Minnesota do here, would suffice.

The Wolves trigger the ICE Coverage with a quick pass to Mike Conley on the empty side. Gobert rolls, and when Randle tags, Conley hits Kyle Anderson who is able to manipulate the help defense to create a wide open three. Generally, forcing these nail help guys to be as reactive as possible is a good way of winning games. Generally, their target should be to get these with pre-action and higher screens.

In Summary

Overall, this might be the most interesting first round series of the NBA Playoffs. The Cavaliers offense is diverse and fluid, and the Knicks defense is really tough. Evan Mobley needs to be aggressive, and the Knicks help defense will need to be on point. The battle of the nail help defenders likely decides this series. I’m not meaning to underestimate the Knicks defense, it’s an immense unit. I just think there are ways Cleveland can attack it and that’s what I’ve tried to explore in this series. I hope you enjoyed.

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